~ Where fingers tap dance…

I miss you

I happened to listen to one of those programs aired on the radio where people call in with questions to their favorite celebrity of the day or some such thing. This particular caller had one to ask of Prithviraj, the talented young actor of the South, who was the star of the day. Prithviraj was flummoxed by the innocuous question put forward by the man. I racked my brain for an answer and was stumped too, not of course that I have an answer to everything.

Come to think of it, the caller probably has a girl friend who insists that he talk to her only in Malayalam, because all he wanted to know was, how he could say ‘I miss you’ in Malayalam.

Malayalam being my language (my mother’s tongue is of course safe in her mouth) and all, I thought I would have an answer to a simple question like that. Sigh, apparently not! But I am curious. I want to know how I can say ‘I miss you‘ in Malayalam, for that matter in any of our regional languages. It’s a funny thing because although I am educated, I probably still wouldn’t have known the answer. This is where you all come in.

So can those Mallu readers who grace my pages with their presence oblige me with an answer and enlighten me in the process?? And all those non-Mallu readers who also grace my pages and brighten it, will you also tell me how you say ‘I miss you’ in your respective languages and enlighten me even further?? I would be much obliged. Thank you!

Says who?? Of course its felt in the heart, that’s why one wants to convey it! Now how would one do that in the local lingo is the question. Come on, admit that you don’t know the answer Govind!!
Well right now I am looking for some stones to pelt. Maybe others would like to join me?! 😛

Unfortunately my Malayalam is absolutely pathetic except when I am angry and one says “I miss you” when they are angry. So no help in that area. However, in Malay (national language of Malaysia) it is “Saya rindu awak/kamu” which is a direct translation of “I miss you”.

Malay and Indonesian are more or less the same Shail. Saya/Aku is I in Indonesian, Anda/Kamu is you in Indonesian. Indonesian also uses “rindu.” I have heard my helper say “kangen” so I am more familiar with that term. I think, we in the Southeast keep missing and longing for our loved ones 🙂

Kamu and awak means the same things but Kamu is the “politer” term for “you”. I have sent the alert to relatives and friends on this. As soon as I get a positive response, I will let you know. This is rather interesting 🙂

I think in Indian languages (except in the recent days) we don’t see such a translation is because couples are not too far apart from each other like other places, so there are no real words for it :-). I think in Tamil we say the following, not sure about the spelling though.

Chris, but that is not right. I mean that couples were not too far apart. Our literature is full of stories of lovers who were apart and sending messages via swans, clouds and what not! 😛 But we don’t seem to have anything equivalent to ‘I miss you’ or for that matter ‘Cheeers!’ too! 😀
Those Tamil lines convey the feeling of missing someone. But there seems to be nothing to convey ‘I miss you’ the way it is said in English. 🙂

Oh! my! Been a Malayali all my life and as yet haven’t missed anyone in Malayalam! Hmmmm…I think the word “miss” is the culprit here. The other two do have their Malayalam equivalents. Try a literal translation of “I missed the bus” – doesn’t quite work out, right? The closest I can offer is Manglish (now I realize why it exists 🙂 ) – Njan ninne miss cheyyunnu 😀

Ahh Dreamer, the same here. This fellow Malayali, yours truly was well and truly stumped and realized the choice was between ‘I miss you’ in English and the Manglish version, ‘Jnan ninne miss cheyyunnu’! Now if ever anyone complains about Manglish I know what to ask them! 😉

This Malayali doesn’t know!!! 😦
even ‘I love you’ is so long, the mood evaporates!!!
I have only heard my parents talk and they use no slang…prim and proper Malayalam…sadly I don’t know too many bad words neither!! except the famous…n mone’…pity!

Oh wow, you a fellow Mallu?? Ahh yes I agree wholeheartedly. Once someone asked me, how they say ‘I love you’ in Malayalam and I replied, ‘Please don’t take the trouble. Just make do with the ever so convenient words ‘I love you’ and be done with it. 😉
I am grinning at the …n mone’ A Northie friend of mine came home one day to find out what that was. Apparently her kids were freely throwing those words at each other in their daily spats and she wanted to know the meaning! 😉

Who said “I miss you “is an english expression?
all the bollywood movies gave me to beleive that Hindi speaking hero/heroines were saying IMU /ILU in Hindi only.
I learnt my hindi from there , so IMU is decidedly Hindi.
Queen’s language borrowed it from us.

(Ok, I’m no language expert, but this is what I think. Dry material ahead.)

I think the problem is that you are looking for a direct translation of “I miss you”, into a form that means exactly how it is used in English, with all that is implied by the word “miss”. The word by itself does not convey the same meaning as it does in that sentence, where we take for granted that the context is life and the sentiment is sadness (and often the reason is distance.)

“I miss you” is really a short form for “Among the given set of objects (that make up my life) you are not in it, and hence I am sad”. To say that in any other language, you must combine words to convey all that is implied, or find a smaller phrase that has been colloquially accepted to convey the same meaning.

And so it is not a question of translating “I miss you”. Rather, it is asking, what short phrase conveys the same meaning as “I miss you”. And this I think is a cultural nuance simply left ignored either because Mallus chose other forms of expression, or is waiting to be discovered by the screen writer of the next Mallu college-romance flick. Or, more likely, it will continue to remain ignored because the globalized Kerala already has a convenient three-syllabic phrase to use intermixed with Malayalam – “I miss you.” 🙂

Yeah agreed ‘I miss you is the short way of expressing something like ““Among the given set of objects (that make up my life) you are not in it, and hence I am sad”. But is there something that means exactly what ‘I miss you’ conveys, is my question, just like the caller.
There are enough phrases that convey the pain of separation and longing, ‘Tum bahut yaad aate ho’ and such. But no, I am on the lookout for something that means the same as ‘I miss you’. If there isn’t one, then we are justified in using ‘Jnan ninne miss cheyyunnu’ in the much maligned Manglish when we wish to convey this feeling or continue using the English version.
This is purely an exercise in curiosity because it smote me that we don’t have something similar in Malayalam.

I almost had a heart attack because I though this was Vivek Thaokar commenting! I have NEVER seen a comment longer than a couple of sentences from him and I wondered what he was sermonizing about, to me and that too from the United States! Lol, you ARE my First-Born, aren’t you??!! Just making sure as there are too many Viveks around! 😉 😀

Wah Makk! You have been doing some field work I see. Thanks for the feedback.
What this shows IMHO is that every language has something unique to offer. So no use going all emotional and unreasonably proud about any single language.
Nice to have you here too, Makk.

‘ninde abhaavam yenikku vedanajanakamaanu’ – I asked my nephew’s wife to find out the meaning! She is from Vaikom and she did some STD calls(!) and everyone’s brain was activated and they came to this sentence! I might give some more meanings, later on!

No one, as far as I know, know the meaning of this sentence in Tamil:
Nee un appaavukku yeththanaavadhu magan?!

Hehehe!!! I like hearing about all this activity going on over the innocous ‘I miss you’. Fun isn’t it?? STD calls eh?? 😛 You know the Mallu sentence ‘ninde abhaavam yenikku vedanajanakamaanu’ translated to English means, ‘your absence is painful to me’. That is hardly the same as ‘I miss you’ isn’t it??

Oh wow, that sentence in Tamil cannot be translated to English (though it can be to Malayalam) as is! 🙂 Once again underlines my belief that every language has something unique to offer. Isn’t that so Sandhya??

Beats me. I mean we are so used to it that we cannot imagine not having something meaning exactly the same in our own language! I for one am amazed how anyone can get by without ‘I miss you’ in their repertoire.
The mission has started, the word is spreading. Let’s hope if an answer exists, then it will find its way to this post and enlighten all of us! 😉 😛

This is indeed a tough one…there is no direct translation of this phrase in Marathi as far as i know ( and i don’t claim to know a lot) But I will have to delve deep in literature to find something. Trust you to give us all homework..Shaila teacher…all i can say right now is the tame ” mala tuzhi phhar aatwan yete”

Vivek, you should not give me shocks like this. You must tell me in advance that you are going to post a THIRD comment!! I fainted on reading it and had to be revived. Am still a bit groggy.
Ahh, the “main tujhe miss karta hoon” is very similar to the “jnaan ninne miss cheyyunnu’ I wrote in reply to Vivek my First-Born.
It definitely is not as crisp as the English ‘I miss you’!

I miss you : “mi-a fost dor de tine” and “imi lipsesti” for the romanian speakers.Means: i feel the absence of you and i was so unhappy.
In french we say “tu me manques” or “tu m’as beaucoup manqué “….and the meaning is more “sensual” than a simple english “i miss you”.You cant say that to a man without a “real” love sentiment.
For exemple: i can say “tu me manques” to Shail’ husband and he must understand that i am in love for him ,but i dont say “tu me manques” to Shail …:)))
it is just an exemple , ok Shail? i love your text!

Isabel, the first one, in Romanian, seems similar to what we say in our regional languages.
BTW, I told my husband that Isabel says “tu me manques” and he hasn’t recovered as yet! 😉 😉 😉 😀 :))))
Thank you Isabel. 🙂

No such DIRECT translation available in Tamil. Every language has its beauty. I like Vivek’s( Yes, your First born)explantion.Leave this direct translation. http://www.radioasiauae.com conducts a show called madhuram malayalam, where the caller has to speak only in malayalam for 2 min. It is a tough call. Guess same with people speaking other language too.

You must have read my reply to Vivek, my First-Born too! ‘I miss you’ in English has got a special feel to it which is NOT available in the phrases available to convey the meaning in any of the regional languages. Let us admit that too.
I have listened in on that programme you mention about a couple of times. Yes, its very interesting. It is difficult considering that some things expressed so well in one language, cannot be conveyed or sounds very stilted in some other language. The example Sandhya above has given is of one such sentence in Tamil that as far as I know, cannot be translated to English without losing its essential meaning.

LOL 🙂 That’s a tough one!!! There is a Hindi song that goes, “Mujhe tum yaad karna aur mujhko yaad aana tum…”, or ‘ Wo jab yaad aye, bahut yaad aye..” . S o I guess in Indian languages when we miss someone we say we remembered them 🙂 Now sorry, miss and thank you are part of Indian languages, we may or may not like it – but it’s easier to use these multi-purpose, short and sweet words – and they are used by all of us.

Yes! So we have some words and phrases that are short, sweet and easier to use as gifts from the English language. I am feeling so thrilled about that. All my life I have heard people smugly saying something or other cannot be translated to English as if that somehow makes their own language superior. I’d like to throw this phrase at the next one who dares say anything of the sort to me!! 😉 Lol. I wonder who that person is going to be. *evil grin*

Welcome to Shail’s Nest Lemony. I read quite an impossible translation in Yahoo Answers. It was nowhere close to ‘I miss you’!! Not only Malayalam, it seems to be ‘missing’ form other regional languages as well! 🙂

OMG, how did I miss your comment??! :O
Yes, looks like it is something we have been using so much, with not not much thought of its uniqueness and importance to us. It seems to have no equivalent in any of our other regional languages (no one has as yet come up with anything) either.

Welcome to Shail’s Nest and thank you for your comment 🙂 Almost, but not quite because what you have written translates to, ‘I feel your absence very much’ not ‘I miss you’. There seems to be no regional equivalent to ‘miss’ 🙂
BTW I hope you will soon get to meet whoever it is that you are missing! Good luck! 🙂

Welcome to Shail’s Nest Aneesh. I will now translate back to English what you have written: I feel your absence a lot. It means almost the same as what Bella above has written in Hindi 🙂
Admit it, we cannot translate ‘I miss you’ just as it is, to any of our regional languages. Only the gist can be conveyed in other ways. 🙂 That is what I have concluded from my own efforts and also from the comments above.

I would try to make a translation of “I yearn/long/desire to be once-again in your presence”- as that is the meaning of “miss” in this case- to want something/someone that is not currently present- it is “missing”.

Welcome to Shail’s Nest. 🙂 Thank you, yes I AM aware what the word ‘miss’ means 🙂 This is not about the meaning conveyed (I am sure every language has words and ways to convey that someone is missed), but whether ‘I miss you’ can be said in any language to mean exactly what it does in English. 🙂

Why would you want to do that? Words are nothing but tools for the mouth to speak what the heart feels- that’s what I place importance upon, anyway. Much more is said behind the facade of words, if one were only to watch.

Lol, what makes you take all this so seriously?? This is an exercise in curiosity, mine. Yes, thanks for telling me what you place importance on. But I am not you. 🙂 I think and do things differently (obviously). I am really rather amused at your “Much more is said behind the facade of words, if one were only to watch.” Lol, so you think I am not aware of that? 🙂

@Shail, Not as keenly as I am, no. We all have our own set of talents. I feel the brilliance of your analytical and inquisitive mind, of course… It’s very powerful indeed! I would expect your world to be highly-organized- with labels. 😀 And I feel your curiosity turning toward me right now, slicing and dicing… 🙂 But these enquiries are a diversion, a distraction to toy with… and I see beyond… Perhaps I am amused by the unease which has crept into the room, but no, I’m not. Nor am I disconcerted. I don’t even know how I cam here in the first place or why… What’s the topic again? 😀

Yep, I make no claims of keenness as well developed as you, just that I count myself in those aware about more being said behind facade of words. 🙂
Wrong about the organisation and labels. Lol Yeah sure my curiosity is turned on, not on you though, but on the fact why anyone at all would want to devote time to a blog which obviously is written in a lighthearted manner. 🙂

About this blog

When my fingers tap dance on the computer keyboard the results are either some tongue in cheek humor, a verse, a short story, a rant or sometimes mere rambling prose that goes nowhere in particular.... You'll find them all. So go ahead, take your pick and be bored to death!!

I believe

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” ~ Cyril Connolly

The why

“I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” ~ Joan Didion